the whys and the wherefores: Doing something proactive

Like millions of people, I will try and find something I can do, when faced with something that seems too difficult to deal with.

So, I woke up with my usual optimism this morning, the New Zealand sun shining through my window. The piccie is the view from my window, not bad eh? I could watch the view all day, ships coming and going, trains coming around the mountain, cars gridlocking and brave cyclists whizzing down the Gorge.
There was an earthquake this morning at 4.00am. It was just up the road, if I'd not been asleep, I'd have felt it. It was a 4.3, rather similar to the one we had about a month ago which happened at about 9.00pm. I was busy doing nothing at my computer, when there was a huge rumbling and quaking, and I was just about to go upstairs and reprimand them for moving furniture around at this time of night. Anyway I didn't and then an hour later, it was reported that the area had just had an earthquake.
Well, no one was hurt in either of those quakes, but I can't say that it doesn't concern me, as my house and road are perilously perched on the side of the gorge, just looking for any opportunity to jump in.
It's about time for a large earthquake in New Zealand, so I'm told.
Well, I can wait.
I remember the only earthquake I experienced in San Francisco and it was about 3 weeks after I'd arrived.
I was sitting outside the mexican restaurant that I would frequent quite regularly, around the corner from the campus, quietly reading a book and munching on my quesidilla. All of a sudden, I heard what I thought was the sound of a truck approaching, somewhere close, but I couldn't see anything. Almost at the same time, my chair moved forward like someone had come up behind me and pushed it. I didn't even realise it was an earthquake.
When I think of the awful devastation in Pakistan recently and various other quakes, it must be stressed in my mind that they are tremors, but apparently, 4.3 is quite big really.

So, back to this morning. My usual routine, check my e-mails and then spend at least two hours doing something quite innane on the computer. Sometimes, it's hours of pouring through the auction goodies on New Zealand's site www.trademe.com

I shouldn't knock it, this is where I bought my car, in which I am very pleased.

But this morning, I looked through the options instigated by a search of PhD courses in Visual Culture. Interestingly, options for these courses came up in Tehran and South Africa among the usual suspects of the UK and the US.

I don't really know what I was looking for, it was just one of those random things that the internet is so good for, where something of interest and use might have arisen, but there wasn't anything. I wanted to ask, on a PhD chat site, whether it was normal practice for people to write their own references, or whether it was as feared, my punishment for having behaved very badly in the eyes of the Americans, and they were not keen to recommend me to anyone.

One thing they've always been very good at, and I've been susceptible to is the guilt and paranoia of situations borne out of ignorance. Waiting and not knowing is horrible, so trying to be proactive, in order to keep things ticking over. So important thoughts are thought, like 'how cruel is it to hoover up spiders?' 'Do they survive and can you let them run free afterwards, does the force of the vacuum rip off their legs?'

They look pretty fragile to me. I'm also contemplating going out clubing tonight, and see whether I 'll meet the love of my life.

So, I've hoovered (leaving the spiders alone) and I've done my washing, and it's a beautiful day out there. So, it would seem sensible not to waste the day, as there is a good breeze blowing, just right for drying. I think I have to do something about this encroaching over hanging tree, yeah, maybe today is the day to do some gardening.